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Sunday, October 4, 2015

Recently there was another shooting on a College Campus. Of course all the predictable reactions on both sides. Calls for more gun control, calls for better mental health screening, background checks, elimination of "gun free zones." You get the picture. But one story widely reported illustrates the number one self defense tool an individual possesses. The will. Reportedly a US Army veteran stood up to the gunman. Although wounded severely he potentially saved many lives. What struck me as odd is not that we have individuals willing to sacrifice themselves for others but that we have many more individuals that willingly did nothing to save themselves. Individuals in this country are still conditioned to rely on others to "save" them.

This folks is the fallacy.It took law enforcement 10 minutes to respond in this instance. The national average for law enforcement response is 7 minutes. 7 long minutes. You need to empower yourself to survive. Give yourself the permission to act in your own self interest. I want to let you in on a dirty little secret. I am armed with a handgun probably less than 50% of the time. Many reasons for that, work related etc.. However I am armed 100% of the time with the will to survive.

Every time I enter a new situation I visualize the "what if's." What if this happens, what if that happens? What do I have on me I can use for a weapon, what is around me? Visualization is a key component to survival. Animals do it why don't you?

Harden your mind to your survival. Run through your options. If a lethal threat presented itself right now what would you do? Run? Lock down? Fight? All these things can be an appropriate response depending on the scenario but it is up to you. Your survival is your responsibility. Training can make you harder to kill but the will. The will to survive is yours and yours alone to employ.